Vehicle curtain-holder.



F. H. ILSE.

- VEHICLE CURTAIN HOLDER.

wlTnasszs IHVEHTOR Swk Ram ATTORNEY FRANK H. ILSE, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

VEHICLE CURTAIN-HOLDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 23, 1914.

Application filed August 7, 1913. 7 Serial No. 783,456.

T all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FRANK H. ILSE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Detroit, county of Wayne, State of Michigan,

have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Vehicle Curtain-Holders, and declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to securing devices for holding side curtains to the top of a vehicle when folded and not in use.

It has for its object a device which effectually holds the curtains in place and in which the curtains may be quickly placed.

In the drawings: Figure 1, is a perspective of the inside of an automobile, a part of the top being cut away. This view shows two of the curtains stowed away. Fig. 2, is a perspective of a portion of a cross bar of the bow showing the retaining device which is claimed attached thereto.

a, represents the automobile body to which is attached the customary bows of a top. The weather-excluding fabric 0 is stretched over the bows. A cable (Z runs from the front bow to the rear bow and upon this is slidably strung the folding curtains c in substantially the same way as described in my prior Patent No. 1,018,498.

One of the chief features of this type of curtain, is the rapidity in which it may be stowed away by merely gathering the curtain together, and fastening it to the cross bar portion of the bow. Heretofore it has been customary to strap the curtains to the cross bar portions.

My invention consists in substituting for strap, spring retaining members or hooks f fixed to the bows of sufficient size to hold the gathered curtain, whereby the folded curtain is held in a flat form instead of a rolled form. These hooks preferably have sprin arms 9 so as to bear upon the gathere curtain and prevent its working loose. I preferably make these hooks of a single spring wire which is fastened at one end to the cross bar portion of the bow. It is then bent to hook form and returns upon itself so as to form a double arm hook.

In Fig. 2, I have shown the form of hook that I use in connection with the cross bars of the two central bows. Inasmuch as the disposition of these cross bars is horizontal, it is advisable to have the long portion of the hook lie in the horizontal. But as there is a constant vibration of the bows, the curtain would tend to jar out of the hooks, especially the hook near the free end of the curtain. To avoid this, I make the bill of the hook shown in Fig. 2 slightly spaced from the stem. This allows the accommodation of the gathered curtain when it has been doubled upon itself, as shown in Fig. 1. The hook of Fig. 2 is turned up in its end to form a lip c'. When the gathered curtain is doubled upon itself, the lip i is allowed to slip in between the doubled portions so that it is practically impossible to disengage the free end of the gathered curtain from this retaining device by pulling the curtain toward the secured end. This, therefore, eliminates the possibility of this end of the curtain jarring loose. Inasmuch as the cross bar portion of the rear bow is tipped at an angle of about 45 degrees, it is not necessary to use a hook with this retaining lip. It will be noted that the stems of this hook are set angularly with respect to the cross bow so that they drop almost vertically therefrom. The spring arms 9 which form the bill of the hook set closely adjacent to the stems near the opening of the hook, hence when the gathered curtain is inserted in the hook it stands substantially vertically and the spring arms bear firmly against the curtain to prevent its release.

What I claim is:

The combination with a vehicle top provided with bows and a weather-excluding fabric, of a curtain secured at the side of the top and a hook secured to the under side of the top for retaining the curtain when the same has been gathered and swung to a position of parallelism with the cross bar portions of the bows, the said hook comprising the stem, an arm bent substantially parallel with the stem and a hp at the end In testimony whereof, I sign this specifiof the arm turned'back to a position of near cation in the presence of two Witnesses. parallehsm with the arm, for lnterposlng T between the folded portions of the free end FRAL K ILSE' of the curtain when the whole gathered cur- Witnesses:

tain has been doubled upon itself by fold- VIRGINIA C. SPRATT,

ing crosswise, substantially as described. STUART C. BARNES.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

